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Rating: 
Summary: Man and machine
Review: In the world of 'Vulcan's Hammer', humans have apparently given up on their political power. They are under the authority of Vulcan III, a massive underground computer that ended war, unemployment and poverty years ago. Two human factions are set against each other: the Union, led by many high-profile directors including William Barris, and the 'Healers', a rebellious group seemingly led by a mysterious figure named Father Fields. Many questions are submitted daily to Vulcan III, but the machine has not yet said a word about the group; people are quick to blame head-director Jason Dill, the only one allowed to submit such questions. In addition to the powerful Vulcan III, there's also the older Vulcan II, which is destroyed but still reveals crucial insights about the Healers and Vulcan III when some of its remains are reconstructed. The 'Union versus Healers' opposition can be multiplied by at least three, because there is some discord a) in the Union itself, b) in the Healers movement, and, most interestingly, c) between the machines. Both of the Vulcan computers play as big a role as the humans, and often seem just as 'alive' as they are. The entire work can be seen as an ongoing mind game, sometimes between men, sometimes between man and machine, sometimes between the machines themselves; it is a lot more substantial than its dismal reputation would lead the unsuspecting reader to believe.
Rating:
Summary: Man and machine
Review: In the world of `Vulcan's Hammer', humans have apparently given up on their political power. They are under the authority of Vulcan III, a massive underground computer that ended war, unemployment and poverty years ago. Two human factions are set against each other: the Union, led by many high-profile directors including William Barris, and the `Healers', a rebellious group seemingly led by a mysterious figure named Father Fields. Many questions are submitted daily to Vulcan III, but the machine has not yet said a word about the group; people are quick to blame head-director Jason Dill, the only one allowed to submit such questions. In addition to the powerful Vulcan III, there's also the older Vulcan II, which is destroyed but still reveals crucial insights about the Healers and Vulcan III when some of its remains are reconstructed. The `Union versus Healers' opposition can be multiplied by at least three, because there is some discord a) in the Union itself, b) in the Healers movement, and, most interestingly, c) between the machines. Both of the Vulcan computers play as big a role as the humans, and often seem just as `alive' as they are. The entire work can be seen as an ongoing mind game, sometimes between men, sometimes between man and machine, sometimes between the machines themselves; it is a lot more substantial than its dismal reputation would lead the unsuspecting reader to believe.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage PKD; worth searching for
Review: One of the joys of reading PKD is the complexity of his novels. In VULCAN'S HAMMER the world is governed by a super computer that believes it is threatened by earlier versions of itself, (fun stuff here), and feels threatened by an anti-computer movement called "The Healers". There are no cut-and-dry good guys/bad guys in this novel, creating more twists and turns than a roller coaster. Look hard for this one. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: You've got to be kidding, right?
Review: The late Philip K. Dick was a genius. He wrote 6-8 masterpieces, which should be required reading for anyone with some interest in science fiction.
However, he also wrote some plain awful novels in order to make a living. In general, the books he wrote in the 1950s are his worst with Vulcan's Hammer being his worst published novel ever (in my opinion). The story is flimsy and dull...one of Dick's biographers (Lawrence Sutin) also cites it as probably being his worst book.
I'm only writing this review because I just can't believe the number of positive reviews for this book. If "Man in the High Castle", which is probably Dick's best work, deserves 5 stars... then by that scale, Vulcan's hammer deserves a 0.5.
The fact that this book was even reprinted is a shame...a real waste of paper.
Rating: 
Summary: SF NOVELS OPUS EIGHT
Review: The main ideas of VULCAN'S HAMMER, the second of the two Philip K. Dick books published in 1960 - the first one being the already forgotten DR. FUTURITY -, can be found in a 1956 novelette presented in Satellite n° 20. Such borrowings were then common, authors developing a novelette to the length of a novel even years after the first publication. A.E. Van Vogt and Isaac Isamov for instance used this innocent literary trick in numerous occasions. VULCAN'S HAMMER reminded me of another PKD novel, also published in 1956, THE WORLD JONES MADE. In the two novels, the established government is threatened by a democratic revolution. Father Fields, the leader of the " Healers ", must fight not only the Nomenklatura of the sole ruling party but also the Vulcan computers to which a trusting world has left years before the entire responsibility in political matters. Soon Vulcan III will defend itself against those who want its death by producing little "hammers" that kill, observe and communicate with a Vulcan deeply hidden in the ground. One could consider these hammers as the first cellulars ever mentioned in a literary text. Some of the novels Philip K. Dick has published in the late fifties-early sixties period stand very well the test of time thanks to the originality of the themes treated - as in EYE IN THE SKY - but others like VULCAN'S HAMMER are very dated. The idea of a fight between computers and humans for supremacy is not, in my opinion, the most original idea found in a sci-fi book. Nevertheless, if you can find a copy of VULCAN'S HAMMER, don't hesitate to buy it because a book that is not read is a dead book and Philip K. Dick deserves to stay alive in our libraries. A book for PKD ultra-fans only.
Rating: 
Summary: Hammer misses
Review: This minor novel in Dick's oeuvre is the tale of a giant computer, Vulcan 3, to which humanity has acceded absolute power over the fate of the world. Its flying "hammers" are deadly extensions of itself, spying on everybody and killing whomever it perceives as a threat. One needs to be very paranoid indeed to survive against this paranoid machine. Vulcan 3 is not as memorable a character as another killer computer, HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both, however, are representations of the disembodied intellect becoming self-aware and preempting the unmechanical wisdom of the feelings. Vulcan is a metaphor for the failure of the rational thinking mind to integrate the irrational feeling side of the personality. The result is that the ego is mechanized, or Vulcanized, and the wrath of the fire god is visited upon a self-destructive humanity. These mythic overtones aside, the book is mainly of interest to the Dick afficianado; those new to PKD could more profitably begin with almost any of his other science-fiction novels.
Rating: 
Summary: suspenseful and fun; perhaps not for Philip K. Dick fans
Review: Vulcan's Hammer is a very conventional early science fiction story about the future of the world dominated by a computer. Naturally the humans catch on that this situation has drawbacks, and a rebellion is launched. But with Vulcan's Hammer the computer doesn't take kindly to any encroachment on its reign. Unlike the author's later works there aren't any deep-rooted social commentary with Vulcan's Hammer. And this story is completely readable; I believe many Philip K. Dick fans enjoy deciphering his often unintelligible prose. Best of all the story reads as a suspense novel, with the author deftly placing in twists to keep the reader hooked .. and it worked for me. Bottom line: a fun if somewhat unremarkable read. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: suspenseful and fun; perhaps not for Philip K. Dick fans
Review: Vulcan's Hammer is a very conventional early science fiction story about the future of the world dominated by a computer. Naturally the humans catch on that this situation has drawbacks, and a rebellion is launched. But with Vulcan's Hammer the computer doesn't take kindly to any encroachment on its reign. Unlike the author's later works there aren't any deep-rooted social commentary with Vulcan's Hammer. And this story is completely readable; I believe many Philip K. Dick fans enjoy deciphering his often unintelligible prose. Best of all the story reads as a suspense novel, with the author deftly placing in twists to keep the reader hooked .. and it worked for me. Bottom line: a fun if somewhat unremarkable read. Recommended.
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